Warriors forward Draymond Green, appearing Wednesday on ESPN’s “Inside the NBA,” offered a new prediction for Kerr’s future. Last week, on his podcast, Green said it “felt like the end” for Kerr as Golden State’s head coach.
But Green offered a different opinion when host Ernie Johnson asked whether he had any idea what Kerr will do.
“I think and hope he’s coming back,” Green said. “I don’t know more than anyone else in the world knows outside of … I do know, he wants to coach. So if he wants to coach, I think he comes back.”
Kerr’s contract expires this summer. A decision on whether he will return to the Warriors next season remains on hold, as Kerr meets with owner Joe Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy to discuss the team’s direction.
Johnson followed up Green’s answer by asking him about other comments he made last week, when he suggested Kerr has “hindered” his career on offense.
“No. 1, people took a four-minute clip of me saying how great this guy has been to my career — how much he’s taught me about winning, where I wouldn’t be without him — they took 15 seconds where I said I think he hindered me from an offensive standpoint,” Green said. “I stand by that. That’s my truth.
“But I think every basketball player in the world has some gripe that they wish their coach would have done. … I’m not afraid to express my one gripe. But I also said all of the incredible things he’s done, how much of a better man he’s made me.”
Green, pinch-hitting for Shaquille O’Neal on the show, also had some lively exchanges with Charles Barkley (no surprise). Barkley essentially said the Warriors are done as championship contenders, because “nobody wins when they’re 37 or 38.”
Stephen Curry is 38, Jimmy Butler turns 37 in September (and will miss at least half of next season recovering from his torn ACL) and Green is 36.
Green responded to Barkley by referencing his sideline embrace with Kerr and Curry near the end of Golden State’s season-ending loss to Phoenix on April 17.
“We had that hug for a reason,” Green said. “We’re not oblivious. This could be it.”
Soon thereafter, Green spoke of the twilight years of his career by saying to Barkley, “I think the goal is to just not look like you in a Houston Rockets uniform.”
Barkley spent the final four seasons of his career with Houston. He retired at age 36 and, yes, he might have been a tad overweight toward the end.
As for Kerr, he spent much of Wednesday afternoon at Oracle Park. Kerr, an avid baseball fan — and specifically Dodgers fan given his upbringing in Los Angeles — watched the Giants fall 5-1 to San Diego.